Green hydrogen pilot plant launches in SA

A pilot hydrogen energy plant that will employ a novel approach by producing green hydrogen directly from water and sunlight, without relying on electrolysers or grid power, is on track to begin commissioning in South Australia next month.

June 25, 2025 David Carroll

Image: University of Adelaide

A first-of-its-kind pilot plant has been launched at the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy campus by Australian startup Sparc Hydrogen as a test bed for photocatalytic water splitting (PWS) – a process that harnesses the sun’s energy to extract hydrogen from water molecules, without the need for electrolysers powered by electricity.

Sparc Hydrogen, a joint venture between the university, Adelaide-based Sparc Technologies, and energy and metals company Fortescue, said the Sparc Hydrogen Advanced Research Pilot (SHARP) plant will accelerate the development of the venture’s patented PWS reactor technology and will enable real-world evaluation of PWS catalysts being developed globally.

“The plant represents a first-of-its-kind demonstration and R&D facility globally for photocatalytic water splitting and is a key step towards commercialisation of the technology,” Sparc Technologies Managing Director Nick O’Loughlin said.

“In an environment where major challenges exist for hydrogen projects due to the high cost of power, the requirement for new solutions to unlock low-cost green hydrogen without relying on electrolysers has never been higher.”

Often referred to as direct solar-to-hydrogen technology, PWS avoids the need to convert solar energy into electricity to split water via electrolysis. In photocatalysis, the sun’s energy is directed onto a specialised photocatalyst material, that forms reactive sites that split water into hydrogen and oxygen without electrolysis.

Sparc said the technology is “a potential game-changer in the global effort to deliver scalable, low-cost, renewable hydrogen.”

Despite the promise of PWS, the efficiency of the technology remains a key challenge to reaching commercialisation.

Lead researcher and inventor Professor Greg Metha, acting director at the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Energy Technology, said the Roseworthy pilot plant aims to improve the economics of producing green hydrogen using PWS through driving increased efficiencies within modular and scalable concentrated solar infrastructure.

Metha said the facility will allow the technology to be evaluated at a meaningful scale ahead of potential commercial deployment in the future.

“The SHARP plant … will allow us to independently and concurrently test different reactor designs and photocatalyst materials,” he said.

“This next-generation photocatalytic water splitting technology has major advantages over electrolysis as it offers the potential to produce low-cost, scalable green hydrogen and heat without significant electricity use.”

Commissioning of the pilot plant is expected to commence in July. Once operational, the facility will be used to test different reactor designs and photocatalyst materials at in order to support and validate laboratory testing.

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